CLOUGH AIMS TO KEEP SQUAD TOGETHER

9 May 2018

Nigel Powlson

NIGEL Clough is hoping to keep the bulk of his squad together as the Brewers look to rebuild in League One.

The Brewers have 15 players under contract and only one, Tom Flanagan, is being made available for transfer. Six players who are out of contact this summer have been offered new deals, including top scorer Lloyd Dyer and skipper Jake Buxton.

In addition, Tomas Egert has been invited back to pre-season training with a view to a possible contract offer.

Five players whose contracts have expired will not receive new offers with two of those being Stephen Warnock and Shaun Barker who have announced their retirements.

The four loan players have returned to their parent clubs.

Clough said: “The key is trying to keep the squad together. Whether we had stayed up or not every player is available as that is the nature of the club and that hasn’t changed at all. We don’t know if we will get interest for the players under contract.

“Although we have been disappointed at times this season we were within four or five minutes of staying in the Championship with this group of players and we would like to try and keep as many of them as possible together to compete in League One.

“It will be a different set of challenges but as difficult in its own way. Our best chance is to keep these players and to challenge them and say ‘come on, we were a few minutes off staying in the Championship, go and prove yourselves in League One’.”